Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Cortechba Overrated

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

tom sloan Great concept, great cast, great songs and music. The theme, plot, and story all boils down to one thing. That would be the "Music Man Syndrome". What that is, is the way a parent perceives their childs level of talent. When it comes to demonstrating any kind of talent, the parent thinks their child is best. I know I do.

sol- Pretending to be an esteemed music professor, a fast-talking conman plans to swindle the residents of the small Iowa town by forming a band that requires expensive costumes and instruments in this big screen version of Meredith Wilson's hit Broadway play. While there are some memorable songs and well choreographed dance routines ("Shipoopi" stands out in particular), the film is mostly carried by the energy that Robert Preston brings to the lead role. He also manages to make his somewhat despicable character likable despite his flaws. In fact, one of the film's best elements is how he unexpectedly brings hope and joy to the lives of so many youngsters when all that drives him (at least initially) is the con. Co-lead Shirley Jones is less effective, though much of that has to do with how the character is written. Described as an "old maid" and pitched as love interest for Preston (who looks old enough to be her father!), it feels like a part written for a much older actress. The way Jones quickly flips from being scrupulous of Preston to falling in love with him never quite feels right either and the pair lack romantic chemistry together. Fortunately, much of the film focuses instead on Preston inadvertently changing the town for the better and between the detailed costumes and catchy music, this remains a pleasant enough musical experience.

jacobs-greenwood This family favorite and Academy Award winning Musical – Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment by Ray Heindorf (his third Oscar out of 18 nominations) – was also nominated for Best Picture, Editing, and Sound, as well as for its Color Art Direction-Set Decoration and Costume Designs. It features Robert Preston in the title (and his career) role, as Professor Harold Hill, Shirley Jones as Marian "the librarian", Buddy Hackett, Hermione Gingold, Paul Ford and eight-year-old Ron "Ronny" Howard as Winthrop Paroo, Marian's little brother; the ubiquitous Charles Lane, and Mary Wickes, also appear. It was produced and directed by Morton DaCosta, adapted by Marion Hargrove from the Meredith Willson-Franklin Lacey book, and added to the National Film Registry in 2005.The soundtrack features such memorable standards as: "Goodnight, My Someone" and "Gary, Indiana", the rousing "Shipoopi" plus the creatively intertwined numbers: "Ya Got Trouble/76 Trombones" and "Pick a Little, Talk a Little/Goodnight, Ladies".In case you are somehow unfamiliar with the story, Hill is a confidence man, who along with his cohort Marcellus Washburn (Hackett), happens upon River City, a small town replete with naïve parents – including the Mayor (Ford) and his wife (Gingold) – that fall for his shtick. They come to believe that Hill can transform their little minions into a full-fledged patriotic marching band – all they have to do is buy brand new uniforms and instruments from him! The better (read and) informed Marian is the only one that's skeptical, even though (especially because?) little Winthrop is Hill's biggest fan. So Hill has to win over or at least distract Miss Marian long enough for Washburn to collect the town's money, then they can get out of town before the townfolk realize that Hill's a fraud. Of course, wooing the comely librarian is fraught with its own dangers as the Professor soon discovers and risks being entrapped by his own lovemaking.

bletcherstonerson This review contains spoilers. The ending is brilliant. It is an intelligent, yet subtle statement on American consumerism. At the end, we see that the Town has bought the lie, they allowed themselves to be grifted and were so delusional and desperate to believe that their children weren't horrible musicians that we the viewer are witnessing a unified mass hysteria taking place. During this surreal moment, the uniforms that once were filthy rags, change to beautiful band outfits, and the band begins to play like John Sousa himself. The reason I reached this conclusion is that through out the film, we see no signs of magic, or fantasy, thus the ending is either done because they couldn't come up with an ending and whipped out a "magical anomaly", or this was a deftly crafted representation of the American citizen so willing to be lied to , and an examination at the happiness they feel when they buy a product and the weird yet fantastical reality that they then delve into after acquiring that product, believing their lives are better and now they are better than others. I gave this film a ten, because it is a classic, yet on a much deeper level than is comfortable for us to view openly.